PAFSO says prolonged strike could cost more than $1 billion

The intensifying foreign service strike could cost the Canadian economy more than a billion dollars if the government and the union fail to come to an agreement by the fall, according to the union’s president.

The Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers (PAFSO) has been taking job action, including rotating strikes and pickets outside of Canadian missions and offices abroad, for the past two months.

The strikes have delayed visa issuance dramatically, costing the Canadian tourism, education and business sectors millions. For instance, media reports have said the strike could cost the tourism industry $280 million by the end of the summer.

In an interview with iPolitics Monday, PAFSO President Tim Edwards said the strike could cost the government more than a billion dollars if it is unable to come to an agreement with the union before the fall sitting of Parliament.

“If this continues into the fall, we’re looking at potential losses of over a billion – maybe more – to the Canadian economy,” said Edwards.

PAFSO has been in a legal strike position since April 2 and without a contract since June 2011. The union, which represents 1,350 foreign service workers, is demanding equal pay for equal work because some junior diplomats earn up to $14,000 less than colleagues doing the same work in Ottawa.

The union has repeatedly said their contractual demands will cost a small portion of what the strike will cost the Canadian government.

“Equal pay for our members could be achieved for $4.2 million – 1.5 per cent of the impact this strike is having on the tourism sector alone,” said a PAFSO press release Friday.

After nearly a week of negotiation between the striking foreign service and Treasury Board, an attempt to reach an agreement to enter binding arbitration failed Friday, leading diplomats to move ahead with walkouts at 15 of Canada’s largest visa processing centres: Abu Dhabi, Ankara, Beijing, Cairo, Delhi, Chandigarh, Hong Kong, London, Manila, Mexico City, Moscow, Paris, Riyadh, Sao Paulo and Shanghai. As of Monday, approximately 200 PAFSO members had walked off the job around the world.

After an offer from the union to enter third-party binding arbitration more than a week ago, Treasury Board agreed, with conditions, last Tuesday.

Those conditions were unknown until Friday afternoon when PAFSO released a series of letters exchanged between itself and Treasury Board over the past week. The letters, labeled “secret” by Treasury Board, indicated that PAFSO agreed to three of the five conditions posed by Minister Tony Clement in a letter Tuesday.

Treasury Board and PAFSO are now blaming each other for the failed attempt to agree on binding arbitration.

Clement said that by rejecting some of the key conditions put forth by Treasury Board, PAFSO essentially rejected binding arbitration. Clement made the comments in one of the “secret” letters released by the union.

PAFSO said Clement scrapped an attempt to find a solution when he rejected the union’s offer to agree to enter arbitration under three of the five conditions posed by Treasury Board. The union said the offer to enter third-party binding arbitration under the three conditions they agreed to still stands.

Edwards said that, based on the union’s latest correspondence with Treasury Board, the government “is not interested in fair arbitration.” When asked whether arbitration is still an option, an official from Clement’s office did not clearly indicate where Treasury Board stands.

“We will continue to bargain in good faith and welcome constructive efforts to reach a timely and reasonable settlement that fully restores the diplomatic, consular and other services Canadians pay for and expect,” said the official in an email.

For the union, the only two options left are for the two parties to come to a settlement or for an arbitrator to step in. However, University of Ottawa labour law expert Gilles LeVasseur said there is another option on the table: back-to-work legislation.

“The difficult part is that you’re (PAFSO) playing with an employer that has the political power to pass legislation to resolve the dispute,” said LeVasseur. “You say, ‘How can they do that and still be able to play fairly?’ Well that is the prerogative when you work with the state and you’re inside the system. They call the shots.”

However, in order to pass back-to-work legislation, Parliament must be sitting. While technically speaking, the government could call MPs back to Ottawa to vote on legislation that would force the diplomats back to work, LeVasseur said it is highly unlikely they would do so in the middle of the summer.

As the strike continues to show no sign of ending, Edwards admits the union is not afraid to continue job action into the fall.

“We are capable of taking this deep into the fall, certainly to the end of the year if need be. The effects on the Canadian economy, if it continues up until that point, will be nothing short of devastating.”

In the meantime, those affected by the strike, including many Canadian visa applicants, have taken to social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook to express their frustration with the delayed visa issuance.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) said more than 1,000 locally-engaged staff continue to work in visa offices overseas. The department has also hired additional staff on a temporary basis, is training staff on a “more urgent basis” and has requested that staff work overtime where possible to alleviate the application backup.

Edwards said CIC is “really scrambling” because it is not legally allowed to use staff from other government unions to do foreign service work.

In addition to ongoing walkouts, PAFSO will picket outside the Prime Minister’s Office in Ottawa Tuesday from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. to show Stephen Harper that they “refuse to be treated with such open contempt and prejudice,” according to Edwards.